Canada’s largest public pension plan reported a 1.8% return in the first quarter of its new fiscal year.
Mark Machin, CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), which has C$366.6 billion ($278.9 billion) in assets, said the fund had a strong performance from private equity, which represents 20.9% of the portfolio.
“While performance was solid across our investment departments, our private assets did particularly well. Global equity markets maintained positive performance this quarter, contributing to Fund growth,” Machin said in a statement.
The pension plan gained C$10.5 billion during the period ended June 30, and following its fiscal 2018 results, announced in May, it has achieved annual five- and 10-year returns of 12.3% and 8%, respectively.
“While we focus on strong average returns stretching well beyond five and 10 years, solid performance today cushions the Fund for an inevitable future market downturn,” said Machin.
The remainder of the Canada investment board’s portfolio allocation was 37.7% public equity, 22.1% government fixed income, and 23.3% real assets, with the rest split among asset classes such as cash. Holdings in cash and absolute-return strategies were negative because of derivative-based net financing and repurchase agreements in tandem with the current net position of absolute-return strategies.
CPPIB does not define individual asset class returns by quarter.
Tags: Canada, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Mark Machin, Pension, Returns